Medical ventilators can provide life-sustaining oxygen delivery to critically ill patients who may otherwise be unable to breathe sufficiently. Ventilators can mix oxygen with room air to achieve a desired percentage of oxygen in the air delivered to the patient. Some ventilators include an oxygen sensor that samples the flow of air being delivered to the patient and detects the amount of oxygen in the delivered air. The information from the oxygen sensor enables the ventilator to check that the oxygen delivery system is working appropriately, to confirm that the appropriate oxygen percentage is maintained, and/or to make adjustments if necessary.
The oxygen sensor may need to be periodically removed from the ventilator in order to be cleaned or replaced. In some cases, the ventilator is removed from service so that the oxygen sensor can be replaced while the ventilator is not operating on a patient.